Zeelandic | |
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Zeêuws | |
Native to | Zeeland (Netherlands) |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 220,000)[1] |
Early forms | |
Zeelandic alphabet (Latin) | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | zea |
Glottolog | zeeu1238 |
Linguasphere | 52-ACB-af |
Distribution of Zeelandic (blue) within the Dutch language area (grey) | |
This article is a part of a series on |
Dutch |
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Low Saxon dialects |
West Low Franconian dialects |
East Low Franconian dialects |
Zeelandic (Zeeuws: Zeêuws; Dutch: Zeeuws; West Flemish: Zêeuws) is a group of language varieties spoken in the southwestern parts of the Netherlands. It is currently considered a Low Franconian dialect of Dutch, but there have been movements to promote the status of Zeelandic from a dialect of Dutch to a separate regional language, which have been denied by the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs.[2] More specifically, it is spoken in the southernmost part of South Holland (Goeree-Overflakkee) and large parts of the province of Zeeland, with the notable exception of eastern Zeelandic Flanders.[3]
It has notable differences from Standard Dutch mainly in pronunciation but also in grammar and vocabulary, which separates it clearly from Standard Dutch. This makes mutual intelligibility with speakers of Standard Dutch difficult.
Together with West-Flemish and the Flemish spoken in northern France, Zeeuws is part of a cluster of remarkably homogenic dialectsDutch versions: Zeeuws or as pdf